Economists on the Happiness Gap
MSNBC reports that men are happier than women (video). MSNBC makes the uncited claim that women enjoy time with friends and family less than their male counterparts. The New York Times gives more detail, claiming that this is a shift from 20 years ago, when women reported more happiness than men.
Both studies sparking recent coverage are by economists. Betsey Stevenson and Justin Wolfers at University of Pennsylvania compared general quality of life assessments. Alan Krueger at Princeton used time survey data (Krueger, 2007, pdf) to suggest that women are unhappy for 90 more minutes per week than men. Krueger notes that men are spending less time doing "unpleasant" things and more time relaxing than 20 years ago, whereas this shift has not occurred for women.
Oh, those busy, busy women. Seriously, I would really like to see more studies that compare single, childless men to single, childless women. Maybe I'll make a point of finding more of those next week. Yes, I know it's valid and generalizable to the human experience, but the whole "women are like X because of child-rearing responsibilities" bit is starting to get really old. Now, maybe my complaint is with fathers for spending less time contributing to the well-being of the family unit. Maybe my complaint is with mothers for setting unreasonable achievement goals. But I feel like my real complaint is with the use of the words "men and women" to mean "father and mothers."
Both studies sparking recent coverage are by economists. Betsey Stevenson and Justin Wolfers at University of Pennsylvania compared general quality of life assessments. Alan Krueger at Princeton used time survey data (Krueger, 2007, pdf) to suggest that women are unhappy for 90 more minutes per week than men. Krueger notes that men are spending less time doing "unpleasant" things and more time relaxing than 20 years ago, whereas this shift has not occurred for women.
Oh, those busy, busy women. Seriously, I would really like to see more studies that compare single, childless men to single, childless women. Maybe I'll make a point of finding more of those next week. Yes, I know it's valid and generalizable to the human experience, but the whole "women are like X because of child-rearing responsibilities" bit is starting to get really old. Now, maybe my complaint is with fathers for spending less time contributing to the well-being of the family unit. Maybe my complaint is with mothers for setting unreasonable achievement goals. But I feel like my real complaint is with the use of the words "men and women" to mean "father and mothers."